Sweltering in summer office?

'I have hot flashes and I'm a guy' not a good sign from irritated office tenants

Brian Bloker from Trane, marking its 100th anniversary in the air conditioning business, has heard it all:

"I've got hot flashes and I'm a guy."

"My computer mouse died of a heat stroke."

"The ring tone on my phone is 'Hot, Hot, Hot.'"

Ignoring such complaints can only lead to more ridiculous claims, so he advised attendees a systematic review at a workshop at the Building Owners and Managers Association International's convention at the San Diego Convention Center.

"Start small and move up to the big," Bloker said.

Check the temperatures and make sure the thermostat is set correctly. State law allows office workers to home if the temperature exceeds 84 degrees for 30 minutes or more.

Pop open the ceiling tiles and look for borken valves, actuators, and dampers.

Check the chiller system and rooftop package air conditioning unit for malfunctions. Are heat pumps running when they're not supposed to? Are belts connected to fans. Sometimes the equipment is missing. "That even happened in a church while the congregation was present," Bloker said. "Someone cut out the unit and left."

The equipment may have outlived its useful life of 20 to 30 years and just needs to be replaced.

The equipment's capacity may have been exceeded -- what with the advent of computers, laptops, coffee makers and space heaters, all contributing to overloads on the system.

"Don't ignore the symptoms," Bloker said. "Why is someone wearing snowboard gloves? That's an indicator of some sort of issue you need to face. It needs to be addressed head on. You need to tackle the problem -- it's not going to get any better."